Michael's Discovery by Sherryl Woods

been their bond. No father could have been prouder when Michael excelled at both football and basketball in high school. He’d never missed a single game.
    He was halfway across the room, a welcoming smile on his face, when he spotted the wheelchair and faltered. When he finally met Michael’s gaze, there was a shared misery in his expression. Clearly, he understood better than most of the others in the room the full implications of Michael being unable to walk, however temporarily.
    The moment lasted only a heartbeat, then he was bending over, giving Michael a hearty bear hug and a slap on the back. “Welcome home, son. I imagine your mother has already given you an earful about keeping us in the dark about being in Boston, so I won’t add to it.” He waved a finger under Michael’s nose. “But don’t think for a second I’m not as irritated by it as she is.”
    “Sorry, sir.”
    His father nodded. “I should think you would be. Now, then, what’s this I’ve been hearing about your biological brothers finding you?”
    His sisters reacted with shock. “You’ve heard from them?” Jan demanded. “Why didn’t anybody tell me?”
    “Or me?” Patty asked. “This is huge news. Where are they? Have you actually seen them? What are they like?”
    Michael held up his hands. “Whoa! One question at a time. They came to San Diego when I was in the hospital, so, yes, I have seen them.”
    “ They were in San Diego and you wouldn’t let us come?” Jan said, her indignation plain.
    “I didn’t invite them,” he protested. “They showed up.”
    “I guess there’s a lesson there for us,” Patty said to her sister. “When it comes to our baby brother, we shouldn’t wait for an invitation. So where do they live? What are they like?”
    “They’re right here in Boston,” he admitted. “We have a lot of old baggage to work out, but I do like them. And they’re dying to meet all of you. Ryan would like you to join us at his pub one evening.”
    Patty stared at him with sudden comprehension. “Not Ryan’s Place?”
    Michael nodded. “You know it?”
    “I’ve been there half a dozen times for the Irish music. Ryan is your brother? I can’t believe it.” She tilted her head and studied him. “Now that you say it, though, I can see the resemblance. This is so amazing. When can we go?”
    Everything was moving a little too fast for Michael. He wasn’t sure what sort of reaction he’d expected from his family, but it hadn’t been this. Then, again, he should have known that people who could welcome a little boy into their home with such openhearts would be just as eager to welcome those who mattered to him.
    “How about next Friday night?” he said eventually. He turned his gaze to Kelly, who’d been sitting quietly throughout his reunion with his father and sisters. “Can you make it then?”
    Michael caught the pleased look that his mother exchanged with his father and knew exactly what it meant. She already had him romantically linked with Kelly, though they’d never given her so much as a hint that Kelly was anything more than his therapist.
    Kelly must have seen the same look, because she hesitated.
    “I’d like you to come,” he told her, not sure why he felt it was so important to include her. He just knew that this whole day had been easier because she was by his side. He wanted her there when his two families met for the first time. “Please.”
    She smiled then. “Of course, I’ll come,” she said, studying him intently. “But if you don’t mind, I think we should be going now.”
    His sisters protested, but his mother took Kelly’s side and within minutes Michael was outside in Kelly’s car. He glanced over at her as they pulled away.
    “How did you know I was ready to leave?” he asked.
    She shrugged off the intuition. “Something in your eyes, I suppose.”
    Michael sighed. It should be terrifying that she could read him so easily, but for some reason, it wasn’t.